The mound of evidence linking President Joe Biden to his family’s business does not depict a “smoking gun” that proves any wrongdoing, Politico Playbook claimed Friday, dismissing serious allegations that some Republicans believe should put Joe, James, and Hunter Biden behind bars.
Featuring an article by CNN, Playbook alleged, “Now that they have a speaker again, House Republicans can return to their impeachment investigation into Biden — but it’s unclear where it’ll go now, CNN’s Annie Grayer reports. Not only have they failed so far to turn up any smoking gun showing Biden corruption, but their momentum was sapped by the speakership chaos.”
It appears Playbook did not know the House Oversight Committee remained active during the speakership battle, during which the committee revealed James Biden wrote a $200,000 check to Joe Biden in 2018.
The committee believes the $200,000 check is suspicious because the money flowed through a distressed entity, Americore, which loaned James Biden a total of $600,000. On March 1, 2018, Americore wired James Biden $200,000. That same day, James Biden sent Joe Biden a $200,000 check.
The White House and James Biden deny the $200,000 check James gave Joe Biden was due to a pre-existing business relationship. They insist the money was a return payment for money Joe Biden lent him but have not provided the committee any evidence to prove their claims.
In a Thursday letter to the White House, House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY), a former bank board member, requested the loan agreement, along with any applicable IRS tax filings.
“The Internal Revenue Code has specific requirements for delineating and reporting ‘below-market [rate] loans’ from gifts,” he wrote. “While there are some exceptions, for example loans of $10,000 or less, the payment in question would not appear exempt from such requirements if it is a loan. Indeed, there appears to have been no interest paid on the “loan” based upon the White House’s own representations.”
The large check from one brother to another is not the only evidence the Friday newsletter ignored. The documented trail of evidence includes:
- Biden family suspicious activity reports of wire transfers
- Texts
- Emails
- WhatsApp messages
- Photos of Joe with Hunter’s business partners
- Joe Biden’s voicemail to Hunter
- Five individuals referencing Joe Biden as the “big guy”
- Two whistleblower testimonies
- FBI FD-1023 form alleging recorded phone calls and texts between Biden and a Burisma executive
- FBI informant alleging bribes
- Video of Joe Biden bragging about firing the Ukrainian prosecutor
- Hunter’s statements about giving half his income to his dad
- Former White House Aide saying FBI ignored Joe Biden’s role in Ukraine business dealings
- Millions flowing into Biden family bank accounts
- Hunter paying for Joe Biden’s expenses
- Email aliases
- James Biden’s $200,000 check to Joe Biden
Playbook’s claims appear to confirm Americans’ opinion of the establishment media. According to a Gallup poll released last week, confidence in media to accurately report “news in a full, fair and accurate way” fell to the lowest level since 2016’s record low. Only 32 percent of Americans said they trust the establishment media “a great deal” or “a fair amount” to report the news. The survey moved American trust in media a few points lower than in 2021 (36 percent) and 2022 (34 percent).
Meanwhile, public opinion of the Biden scandal highlights the media’s perceived bias. A majority of voters believe Joe Biden committed a crime with Hunter Biden, a Yahoo/YouGov survey released in September found. Sixty-one percent of Americans believe Joe Biden was involved in his family’s business deals with China and Ukraine, a CNN poll found. A majority of voters believe the Biden family received payments from foreign nationals to influence policy, according to Trafalgar and Convention of States polling exclusively revealed to Breitbart News in June.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
